Incident radiation flux —drives→ Radiation pressure
The atlas records this claim as established: an incident radiation flux drives the radiation pressure under the conditions below.
Exploreconditions · evidence · matrix context · uses · cite
Conditions
- radiation absorbed or reflected by a surface; force per unit area I/c absorbed, 2I/c reflected at normal incidence — about 9 µPa in full sunlight
- mechanical work requires displacement or deformation under the radiation-pressure force; absorbed optical power may additionally thermalise, perfect reflection dissipates nothing
Evidence · 3
- [1]E. F. Nichols, G. F. Hull. A Preliminary Communication on the Pressure of Heat and Light Radiation (1901)
- [2]A. C. Trowbridge, E. M. Wright, K. Dholakia. Radiation pressure revisited: historical context and the role of structured light (2025)
- [3]L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz, L. P. Pitaevskii. Electrodynamics of Continuous Media (Course of Theoretical Physics, Vol. 8, 2nd ed.) (1984)
Matrix cells this relation feeds
D = disequilibrium row · C = coupling family column. A cell reads the state of the atlas for that pair.
Uses of this claim
- Incident radiation flux → Radiation pressure → Mechanical motion → Mechanical work3/3 established · candidate
- Incident radiation flux → Radiation pressure → Mechanical motion → Electromagnetic induction → Charge carriers → Electrical work5/5 established · unresolved handoff
- Incident radiation flux → Radiation pressure → Mechanical motion → Rotating-machine generator action → Charge carriers → Electrical work5/5 established · unresolved handoff
Notes
Solar sails (IKAROS 2010, LightSail 2 2019) convert this momentum flux into spacecraft kinetic energy in flight.
Cite this claim
Physical Transformation Atlas (2026). claim claim:radiation-drives-pressure: Incident radiation flux —drives→ Radiation pressure. Dataset revision rbfbfcbb70e57 (hash of the canonical data). https://physical-transformation-atlas.wldud5192.workers.dev/claim/radiation-drives-pressure
Ids and matrix addresses are stable across revisions; the revision hash identifies the exact canonical files the record was compiled from and is meta.data_hash in every /api export. Reuse terms: see the license field in any export.